Agitator for washing machines



March 14, 1939. P. E. GELDHOF AGITATOR FOR WASHING MACHINES 2Sheets-Shem- 1 Filed Sept. 6, 1935 P. E. GELDHOF AGITATOR FOR WASHINGMACHINES March 14, 1939.

Filed Sept. 6, 1935 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M/Z/d I/AMHJAJ ATTIJRNEYINYENTEIR M Patented Mar. 14, 1939 UNITED STATE amass aer'ra'ron ronwssnmo monmns Peter Eduard Geldhof, Syracuse, N. 1., assigninto EasyWashing Machine Corporation, Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation of DelawareApplication September 6, 1935, Serial No. 30.404

My invention relates to washing machines and, more particularly, to anovel agitatorv or dolly therefor.

an agitator adapted to be mounted .for oscilla-' tion in a washing vatwhich is adapted to circulate the clothes and washing fluid in onecirculatory direction around the vat, whereby the u clothes areconstantly changing their relative positions in the vat so as tocontinually present new clothes surfaces to the washing action of theagitator.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a novel agitator fora washing machine in which the blades are mounted on a central portionat an angle to the vertical, whereby the thrusts produced by theagitator in the opposite directions of rotation thereof are slightlyunequal so that while the movement of the clothes and washing fluid isprimarily oscillatory in character, the clothes and washing fluid tend,at the same time, h to circulate in one direction around the vataccompanied by an upward and 3 downward movement of the clothes,

More specifically, my invention contemplates the provision of anagitator for a washing machine in which the'central portion thereof is apyramid having a blade secured to each face thereof, said bladesextending at an angle to the vertical whereby, upon oscillation of theagitator. the clothes and washing fluid are thoroughly agitated andcleansing of the clothes is effected in a minimum of time.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be more apparent fromthe following description when taken in connection with the acicompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a view of the agitator, in vertical I section, showing 'theagitator mounted in a washing vat.

Figure 2 is a view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the agitator showing the shape andmanner of mounting the blades on the central portion.

Figure 4 is a view taken in the line 4-4 of taken on the line 5-5 of Theagitator of my invention is adapted to be mounted in a vat or tub II inwhich the clothes and washing fluid are placed. The washing vat may beof any desired shape, either square, 'or, as shown in the drawings.circular in cross sec- 5 tion. The agitator, generally indicated by thenumeral I2, is preferably mounted centrally of the vat II and is drivenby a shaft ll extending upwardly through the bottom of the vat. Theshaft is may be driven in an oscillatory manner 10 by any suitablemechanism. not necessary to be shown or described herein, since suchdriving mechanism is well known in the art to which this inventionapplies. Preferably, the shaft is driven in an oscillatory mannerthrough an arc of 1 180, more or less, and at a speed of about flfty -orsixty oscillations per minute.

A sleeve i4 surrounds the shaft l2 and provides a bearing point for theshaft at IS. The

sleeve it extends downwardly concentric with 2 A the shaft, has a flangeII adapted to engage the bottom of the vat-and has a portion ll whichextends through the bottom of the vat. The pro- ,iecting portion ll ofthe sleeve is provided with threads for securing the sleeve to a memberI8. 25 A plate 20, which is part of an apron which partially enclosesthe machinery for oscillating the shaft I3, is interposed between themember I9 and the bottom of the vat. Suitable packing 2i is provided toprevent leakage of cleansing fluid from the vat around the sleeve whenthe sleeve is screwed tightly into the member is.

The central portion of the agitator is hollow. as indicated in thedrawings, and at its lower portion is provided with suitable bosses 22extending inwardly from the inner side walls of the central portion oftheagitator. The bosses 22,

q preferably three in number, are adapted to receive a bearing, 23. Thebearing is press fltted into the bosses for oscillation with theagitator and has'a running flt, as indicated at 26, on an enlargedportion 21 of the sleeve ll.

The top of the agitator shaft I3 is splined, as

indicated at 28, which splines are adapted to intermesh with splines 28formed in a collar ii.

The collar Si is press fltted into a bore formed in the top of thecentral portion of the agitator.

A hollow cap 32 of any suitable shape is secured to the top of theagitator by means of a screw 50 33. A flat plate 36 forms the bottom ofthe cap and rests upon fins 31 which are integral with the centralportion 38 of the agitator. The plate 36 is formed with flanges 38 and40, the inner flange 40 of which closely surrounds the central portionof the agitator while the outer flange is secured to the top portion ofthe cap 32.

The central portion 38 of the agitator has a downwardly and outwardlyextending surface such as that presented by a cone r, as indicated inthe drawings, the cen al portion is preferably a pyramid. While thepyramid may have any number of sides, it preferably has three faces 4iso that the angles formed at the corners 42 of the pyramid are 60 and,therefore, form relatively sharp angled projections which, when theagitator is oscillated, produce a scrubbing and rubbing efiect on theclothes.

Atthe bottom of the agitator, the faces 4| are flared outwardly so thatthe bottom of the agitator is substantially circular. Each -of the facesof the pyramid is provided with a :blade 44. The blades 44 arepreferably straight throughout substantially their entire length andeach of them extends from one corner 42 of the pyramid diagonally acrossone face to the other corner so that each of the blades extends at anangle to the vertical. Toward the bottom of the central portion of theagitatorjwhere the pyramid is flared outwardly to form the circularbase,

as at 46, the blades are slightly curved in the direction of inclinationof the blades to the vertical and merge into the base at 48. While theblades may extend the entire helghth of the pyramid, preferably, theyextend through only about three-quarters of the heighth thereof, asshown in the drawings. Preferably, also, the blades are comparativelynarrow near the top and gradually widen as they extend downwardly acrossthe faces of the pyramid toward the bottom, the point of greatest widthbeing at the point 49 slightly below the point at which the blades beginto curve into the base. From this point, the blades gradually becomenarrower and merge into the base.

When the agitator is oscillated by reason of the fact that the bladesextend in the same direction at an angle to the vertical and areslightly curved in the same direction near the bottom of the agitator,they tend to exert a greater thrust thorough agitation of the clothes.

on the clothes and washing fluid when the agitator is rotated in theclockwise direction than alien it is rotated in a counterclockwisedirec- While the horizontal component of the thrusts caused by oppositefaces of the blades are nearly equal, there is suflicient diiferencebetween them to cause the clothes to move around the vat slowly in aclockwise direction. Thus, the clothes are caused, at times, to changetheir relative position in the vat so that new clothes surfaces areconstantly being presented to the action of the agitator. The verticalcomponents of the thrust exerted by the agitator tend to cause theclothes and washing fluid to be raised upwardly during the clockwiserotation of the agitator and to be thrust downwardly during thecounterclockwise rotation thereof. This upwardand downward movement ofthe clothes insures a During the oscillation of the agitator, the edges42 of the pyramid, as well as the blades themselves, exert a substantialscrubbing action on the clothes without causing deterioration thereof.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the agitator ofmy invention is of new and novel design and that various modiflcationsand changes may be made iii the form and relation of parts thereofwithout departing from the spirit of the appended claim.

I claim:

An agitator for a washing machine adapted to be mounted in a vatcontaining clothes and washing fluid comprising a central pyramid havingan outwardly flared portion toward-the bottom thereof, each face of saidpyramid having a substantially straight blade extending from one cornerof said pyramid downwardly along the face at an angleto the verticalsubstantially to the adjacent corner of the pyramid, each of said bladesbeing curved near the lower end and merging with the outwardly flaredportion at the bottom.

PETER'EDUARD GELDHOF.

